Watch an animated video showing nuts and bolts of an ACL reconstruction
This is not a new video -- Dr. Bertram Zarins of Massachusetts General Hospital produced it in 2007 -- but unfortunately it's ever-relevant given the volume of professional athletes going down (Phillip Gaines) and coming back (Todd Gurley) from ACL reconstructions every day.
It's animated but hit play with caution if you're easily queasy.
The video resurfaced in a number of Reddit sections today. A torn anterior cruciate ligament in the knee is no longer a career killer it used to be, but still requires an invasive surgery, grafting and a lengthy, painful, recovery and rehabilitation period.
The upside is that players across sports (that's Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari's knee you may have seen on the FOX Sports homepage or Facebook) have made successful recoveries after surgery and returned to play at levels they had achieved pre-injury. And the surgery has and will continue to improve over time.
